Today’s Report Shows that Marylanders Will Still Pay More for Insurance

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This afternoon,the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) released finalrates for individual health insurance plans under the Obamacare exchange. Today’s announcement comes after news in April that Maryland’s largest non-profit health insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield proposed that they would have to raise rates for individuals an average of 25% – and up to 150% for young people – because of Obamacare. Despite the MIA approving “premiums at levels as much as 33 percent below what had been requested,” Marylanders healthcare premiums will still go up under the law.

“Today’s announcement about health insurance premiums demonstrates that Obamacare will in fact lead Marylanders to pay more for their healthcare,” said Harris. “It is hardly welcome news for young Marylanders who are already struggling in this economy to say their health insurance will still go up under Obamacare, but not as much. Despite promises by President Obama and others that this law would lead to lower premiums, the exact opposite is turning out to be true – Marylanders will be paying more.”

Common sense is apparently hard for some criminals. Take for example, 22-year-old Derrick Mosley, who reportedly attempted to rob an Oregon gun shop on Thursday armed with a baseball bat.

According to various news reports, Mosley strolled into Discount Gun Sales in Beaverton, Ore., with his baseball bat and criminal intent. He reportedly smashed a display case and attempted to steal a firearm.

The manager of the gun shop drew his own firearm which, unlike the one Mosley attempted to steal, was loaded. The manager trained his gun on Mosley and ordered him to drop the bat, the unloaded gun he was trying to steal and the 9-inch knife he was carrying. The first smart thing the crook did that day was comply with those commands. More

One thing I noticed throughout the Martin/Zimmerman story cycle: the “opinion/fact” mutation. As more facts are introduced into the mix, opinions don’t disappear after being proven wrong, they simply mutate.

We’ve seen this with other issues and debates: global warming, for example, mutated into climate change. When statistics revealed that the earth hasn’t warmed in a decade and a half, you then offer opinions about climate in general to maintain your point of view. We do this all the time, in our personal lives, too. After we exhaust all opinions, we are ultimately left with, “I really don’t want to go see your mother.”

Opinion moves like water--when one path is blocked, it finds an alternative route. If the bad guy is white, but it turns out he isn’t white, he becomes “white Hispanic.” When you find out that nearly every person involved in the matter says race isn’t a factor, then the story becomes about “stand your ground.” And even if you find that “stand your ground” may not play a role, then it becomes a “national conversation” about “self-defense” or about “the system” in general. Every time you change the turf, the opposing teams just pick a different strategy to push their point of view.

ABC News is being accused of deceptively editing, or at least misrepresenting (intentionally or not), some of the comments made by Juror B29, the lone “nonwhite” juror in the George Zimmerman murder trial. Further, the media as a whole are being accused of manipulating some of her statements.

These allegations come not from a conservative news source, but rather from Slate.com.

The key phrase latched onto by most media outlets, due to its sensational nature, was “George Zimmerman got away with murder” — words that were, in fact, said by Juror B29. But the full unedited video of the comment, in context, tells a different story, claims Slate’s William Saletan.More

Is Vladimir Putin, tired with Edward Snowden recasting himself as Tom Hanks in the Moscow transit terminal, about to send the NSA whistleblower packing, bound and gagged, and gift wrapped back to Obama? It increasingly appears so. Reuters reports [5]that, in a sudden and abrupt shift to the previously defiant tone out of Putin, Russia's FSB federal security agency and its U.S. counterpart, the FBI, are in talks over the fate Edward Snowden, who is stuck at a Moscow airport, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Friday. Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was not involved in talks over the 30-year-old American, who is wanted by the United States on espionage charges.

So did Snowden commit a huge strategic blunder by going to Russia in hopes the Russian leader will have infinite patience with the ongoing political drama which is making the Big Brother administration angrier by the day?

We may very soon find out. And what happens if and when Snowden is held in a maximum security penitentiary somewhere in the continental US - just how will Obama react to the countless supporters who line up to voice their support at any given such location? The people demand to know.

Entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte blamed the Tea Party for increasing "racial animus" in the United States in an appearance with the Dream Defenders at the Florida State Capitol.In a response to a question from Breitbart News about the dramatic difference between black and white opinion on the George Zimmerman acquittal, Belafonte said that black Americans believed that white Americans don't pay attentions to black issues unless they create a disturbance.

Belafonte added that during the civil rights era, they fought and achieved their objectives but that he felt that progress had been rolling back. He cited the Supreme Court's recent overturn of the part of the Voting Rights Act as an example. Mr. Belafonte then went on to call out the Tea Party specifically for increasing racial tension, but cited no specific examples.More

A funny thing happened on Robert Khuzami’s way to a $5-million-a-year job.

By funny I mean sickening; by sickening I mean a travesty of a mockery of a sham; by a travesty of a mockery of a sham I mean how the operatives at the SEC sometimes operate.

Robert Khuzami, the recently former head of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, just signed with powerhouse law firm Kirkland & Ellis, one of the nation’s biggest corporate firms, for a deal that guarantees him $5 million a year for at least the next two years.

After that, who knows? He might work his way up to join the top slot prestidigitators, I mean professionals, at the firm, who are paid about $8 million a year.

Good for him. He’s smart, aggressive, and knows how the games are played. He’s a playa.

Advocacy groups opposing the planned shutdown of 49 schools in Chicago are turning to the United Nations for help, urging U.N. officials to investigate and take steps to prevent human rights abuses which, they say, will result from the closures.

In the latest in a number of appeals by U.S. civic organizations to the world body, the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights this week submitted a letter to the U.N. human rights apparatus in Geneva, asking that it “investigate and take preventative measures to address the potential domestic and international human rights violations that may result from these school closings.”

The action comes alongside two federal lawsuits seeking injunctions to block the closure of the institutions by the nation’s third-largest public school district before the new school year begins.See more

An elderly man in Florida had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back. It was properly shaped for swimming, so he fixed it up nice with picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some orange, and lime trees.

One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over. He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit.

As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond.

He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, 'we're not coming out until you leave!' The old man frowned, 'I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked..

Today, we mark the 23rd Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – a major milestone that guarantees citizens with disabilities receive basic freedoms like independence, equal access, and freedom of choice and inclusion. In Maryland, we believe in the dignity of every individual, the beauty of our own responsibility to advance and protect the common good, and an understanding that we’re all in this together, that we need each other, and what we do in this lifetime does matter.

As we reflect on ADA this year, I am pleased to highlight our State’s involvement in the Model Employer of People with Disabilities Initiative, which aims to advance job opportunities for people with disabilities within state government. By making our State a Model Employer, we demonstrate our belief that the public sector can ensure everyone has the chance to work, earn and be contributing members of their community.

This afternoon, Lt. Governor Brown will also emphasize our State’s commitment to providing jobs to all Marylanders when he joins individuals with disabilities, families and friends, elected officials and other special guests at Maryland’s annual ADA Anniversary Celebration at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

In our One Maryland, there is no such thing as a spare American. Working together, we can create jobs and expand opportunity so all Marylanders can lead productive and independent lives.

An outside audit of how the state of Maryland spent almost $13 billion it got from the U.S. government found significant problems in some of the programs the state runs with federal dollars.

MarylandReporter.com frequently covers audit results published by the state’s Office of Legislative Audits. OLA’s audit work is similar to internal audits done in the private sector.

A different kind of audit—known as a “Single Audit” and equivalent to an external audit—covers all federal money spent by the state of Maryland. These annual audits are performed by an outside CPA firm hired by the state comptroller. After the comptroller accepts the audit report, it is sent to the federal government.More

July 25, 2013Vienna, AustriaGold owners are almost universally familiar with the story of Franklin Roosevelt criminalizing the ownership of gold back in 1933.Executive Order 6102 was signed on April 5, 1933, and it forbade the "Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates within the continental United States."Roosevelt further ordered that citizens in the Land of the Free surrender their gold to the Federal Reserve in exchange for $20.67 per troy ounce in Federal Reserve notes.The term gold 'nationalization' is often thrown around. But remember, with nationalization, it's the state that takes control of an asset.Executive Order 6012 took assets from private individuals, and then gave those assets to a private company-- the Federal Reserve. This isn't nationalization. It's just theft.You'd think that the entire nation would have been in an uproar. But surprisingly, this wasn't the case.In fact, the Executive Order didn't even make the front page of the New York Times, whose main headline the day after was "BEER LEGAL AT MIDNIGHT". It just so happened that prohibition was starting to be repealed right when Roosevelt's order was going into effect. So people were too distracted with their pent-up, alcohol-induced euphoria to really notice. Very clever timing.Of course, Roosevelt was not the first, nor the last, to confiscate citizens' gold. One of my favorite stories involves Charles I of England, who commandeered 200,000 pounds of gold in 1638 as the English Civil War was approaching.This gold belonged to private citizens, not to Charles. The rightful owners trusted their king and were storing their gold at the national mint for safe keeping.This trust proved to be misplaced. And Charles seized the gold, calling it a 'loan' (upon which the English government subsequently defaulted).This theme is consistent across history-- governments have a notorious, unblemished track record of fleecing their citizens, particularly in times of desperation.History shows that the likelihood of a government pillaging its citizens' wealth is directly proportional to that government's fiscal health.Looking back, it seems so obvious. I'm sure the day after the bank account freeze in Cyprus earlier this year, people were probably thinking, "Wow, I can't believe I didn't see that coming..."Nearly the rest of the West is in the same position, or worse off, than Cyprus-- overextended banking systems, interminable deficits, unsustainable debts, and strong precedents of setting the law aside to violate people's freedom.All the warning signs are there. And just as in Cyprus, or in 17th century England, it's going to be so obvious looking back.This is one of the reasons why it's so important to be proactive now and move a portion of your assets abroad where they can't grab it.As an example, there's a fantastic private, secure storage facility here in Vienna called Das Safe that I've been writing about for a long time.Das Safe has been around for three decades. And because they're not connected to any bank or government, it's possible to anonymously rent a safety deposit box where you can store gold.Under current US law, this is not reportable... so you can truly hold your savings privately, outside the banking system.Of course, gold is just one asset to think about. There's another asset that I'm even more concerned about governments stealing: retirement accounts. More on that another time.

"But with this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop. (Applause.) This needs to stop."

10. Someone pleads the Fifth. Lois Lerner, IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during an oversight hearing. She was also suspended (with pay).

9. Documents go missing, officials fake e-mail addresses. Records of tax inquiries into Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell are gone; the former EPA chief made emails tough to find by using an alias.

BERLIN -- The 5th Annual Berlin Peach Festival will be held Saturday, Aug. 3, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., on the grounds of the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum. Admission is free. Rain date for the festival will be Sunday, Aug. 4.

The festival will be opened officially by Mayor Gee Williams with help from Little Miss and Little Mister Berlin Peach 2012. All afternoon, attendees will be able to stroll among the displays, demonstrations and sales tables. Naturally, there will be delicious Delmarva peaches for sale from a variety of Delmarva growers (the type of peach and its grower depends on what is ripe at that time).

While Congress continues to investigate widespread IRS scandals, Senate Democrats are calling to increase the Internal Revenue Service's budget.According to The Hill, Democrats are using a Financial Services subcommittee bill to push for the changes to take place next year. It would raise IRS funding to $12.07 billion, "an increase of $276.5 million."

BERLIN – This is the last week to purchase your tickets for the annual Benefit The Bays Day at Jolly Roger.

Cool off the family and keep the heat on polluters by joining Assateague Coastal Trust at Jolly Roger waterpark on Sunday, July 28.

Attendees will enjoy a deep discount off regular ticket prices and then enjoy a deep dive down the park’s numerous water slides and other attractions. Proceeds from Benefit the Bays Day will support ACT and the Assateague Coastkeeper in its efforts to keep our coastal bays “Swimmable and Fishable” and protect the area’s precious natural resources.More

In a brief but perfectly succinct interview on CNBC yesterday, Ron Paul shared his opinion on the need to own gold (and the physical demand for the manipulated metal) and the Detroit bankruptcy ("we're going to see more Detroits"). He concludes that "long term, you can expect governments not to change" and that they’ll keep taking on more debt and printing more money until people lose confidence in both the U.S. dollar and the U.S. military, both of which will be shake the foundation of a fiat/dollar system.

SNOW HILL -- Contrary to sagging statewide results, test scores are holding steading among Worcester County Public Schools (WCPS) as educators prepare to convert to the new, federal Common Core Curriculum (CCC) next year.

While Maryland has seen a dip in overall scores with CCC approaching, Worcester results remain largely unchanged thanks to the school system’s focused approach to education, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jerry Wilson.

“During times of transition, educators must utilize the accountability measures of the past, while transitioning to the higher expectations of the future,” Wilson said. “Our sustained excellence on the MSA [Maryland State Assessment] shows that our effective and dedicated staff is committed to high expectations for each student’s achievement and continuous improvement. Teachers continue to be focused on meeting the needs of each individual child.”More

With regard to the disastrous Macondo oil well rupture that ended in 11 deaths and triggered the largest US offshore oil spill of all time (and uncountable ongoing ecological impacts), Halliburton has 'graciously' decided to plead guilty to destroying evidence. 'Guilty?' we hear you ask? When has any large US corporation not just settled in order to not be forced to admit guilt? Well, as Reuters reports, "their willingness to plead to this may also indicate that they'd like to settle up with the federal government on the civil penalties." The maximum statutory fine for this apparent midemeanour? $200,000! Or 0.0007% of expected revenues for 2013. Well, that'll teach 'em for sure - they won't be destroying evidence again, eh?

College students can breath a sigh of relief now that Congress has finally agreed on legislation to keep interest rates on federal student loans from doubling to 6.8 percent this school year.

The Senate passed a compromise billWednesday night that ties federal student loan rates to the yield on 10-year Treasury notes. That means undergraduates will pay an interest rate of 3.86 percent on loans taken out this year; grad students will pay 5.41 percent.

These interest rates will increase as the economy improves, but the legislation caps interest rates for undergrads at 8.25 percent.More

Shortly after building his own house and showcasing his talents, my grandfather began to establish himself as someone who could build a fine building. By 1929, he was finished with residential construction and formed a company that employed about 10 men. This figure surged occasionally if the size of the job warranted hiring extra men. He had very definite ideas about just how things were to be done and this was never more in evidence than in the following chain of events.

Only once did he attempt to grow large enough to have two crews and attempt to undertake the construction of two buildings at once. One of the two new projects was the Manhattan Shirt Factory on East Main Street in Salisbury. This is now the home of The Country House and is a rather sizable structure.

He started out on this job early one Friday morning. The footer had been put down and construction of the wall was ready to begin. Once he had given his foreman his instructions, he proceeded on to the second job site. Having worked on this all morning and seeing things were progressing as he wished; he went home for lunch and afterwards went back to the Manhattan building.

At this point things went steadily downhill. Apparently the foreman had decided on his own to make a change in the way the wall was constructed. My grandfather asked why he had done this and the foreman said that he thought it should be done differently than the way my grandfather had instructed him. At this juncture my grandfather told him that he didn’t pay him to think – just to do what he was told. One word led to another and my grandfather ended up by firing him and paying him off for the week. Some of the other workers took sides with the foreman and he repeated the scenario of firing the dissenters and paying them off – in cash out of his pocket, all the while kicking down the offending wall. Like some kind of wildfire, the remaining men saw that this was the opportunity to get off work early, get their money, spend a couple of hours in the bar, and still be home on time. The pervasive thought was that since there were a limited number of qualified men in the construction field, he would have to hire them back on Monday morning. He got down to one man who hadn’t said a word. My grandfather asked him, “How about you?”. To which the man replied, “You’s de boss, Capt. Albert”. At that, my grandfather said he’d see him Monday morning.

Now he was left with quite a dilemma. But with the same determination that had gotten him into this situation, he set out to solve it. He told me that he spent the next 48 hours going to every outlying community around Salisbury and finally finding enough men to finish the job. It should be pointed out here that he had fired 63 out of 64 men that worked for him and paid every one of them a week’s wages out of his pocket. Some of the 63 straggled back to the job on Monday morning, but he never flinched and finished the job without hiring any of them back. He did say that he used some of them on later jobs, but not on the Manhattan Shirt Factory.

SALISBURY – Different sources of funding have been aligned to move forward with the construction of a new Animal Health Building at the Salisbury Zoo.

First on the Salisbury City Council’s agenda regarding the project was a resolution to accept a donation from the Delmarva Zoological Society (DZS) and Zoo Commission as well as to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the DZS for the new facility.

According to Acting Director of Public Works Amanda Pollack, the DZS has raised $600,000 for the new Animal Health Building, a critical project for the zoo to be eligible for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Accreditation.More